This extract includes a link to a video covering Charlie Barr’s move from Scotland to the US. The stern Scot was arguably the best racing skipper Britain ever produced. His most famous achievement must be the transatlantic speed record on the schooner ‘Atlantic’, set in 1905 and destined to last for 75 years. He was also a successful America’s Cup skipper.
Watch the video, produced by Alasdair Purves. In the US Barr’s prowess gained him employment with the likes of John Pierpont Morgan, William Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt III; his America’s Cup hat-trick, racing Herreshoff designed yachts and the tremendous 1905 Kaiser’s Cup transatlantic race, setting the world record for the fastest crossing of The Atlantic Ocean.
Atlantic – The Legend of Captain Charlie Barr from Alasdair Purves on Vimeo.